The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2014, and October 31, 2015, are automatically nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on October 23, 2015, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

When Lynda Blackmon Lowery set her sights on marching from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, she had two goals. First and foremost, she wanted to help her father and grandmother win the right to vote. But after having been severely injured and traumatized on the infamous day known as Bloody Sunday, she also aimed to confront the governor of Alabama.

“I wanted to get to Governor Wallace to show him what he had done to me,” says Lowery, who ...

Like most people living in New York City after 9/11, Bethany Hegedus was in need of some solace. On the day the Twin Towers fell, she was at work in the World Financial Center—a building located directly across the street from the World Trade Center. She heard and felt the rumble of the second plane’s impact, saw fuselage flying past the office windows, and watched in disbelief as people began to jump from the towers.

“Before I understood what ‘country’ meant, I had a definition of it through the stories that I heard,” says Azar Nafisi, Executive Director of Cultural Conversations at Johns Hopkins University, and the author of The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books. “So I was this four- or five-year-old kid living in a country named Iran. But I had already traveled to Pinocchio’s Italy and Huck Finn’s America. And the ...

Kelly and His Wife Gabrielle Giffords Are the Authors of a New Book about Gun Violence

By
Laura Jenkins
on
October 6, 2014

Mark Kelly photographed by Marc Winkelman.

Like many controversial issues, the dialogue surrounding gun control can go from friendly to flammable in only a moment. Constructive discourse is often hindered by accusatory and extreme rhetoric, suggesting that there is perhaps no middle ground and thus no forum for productive conversation. Former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly aim to change that. Both gun owners and avid supporters of the second amendment, Giffords and Kelly began their efforts to expand firearms background ...

He’s the game-changer you’ve probably never heard of. Thomas D. Mütter was an eccentric surgeon in a medical era that could easily be described as barbaric. Most have heard nightmarish stories about Civil War battlefield surgeries and makeshift infirmaries. But what’s not commonly known is that in early to mid-nineteenth century America, formal medical treatment wasn’t much more sophisticated.

“The surgery room itself was such a horror, in terms of what they didn’t know,” says Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, author ...

Throughout history, scores of anthropologists and philosophers, theologians and poets have taken their turn at examining the human condition. The lenses are legion, but perhaps none reaches through time and transcends cultures as extensively as food does. Celebrated poet and feminist writer Sandra M. Gilbert, who is also a Distinguished Professor of English Emerita at the University of California, Davis noticed the rich proliferation of gastronomic literature throughout the ages and decided to write a book about it. However, The ...

Though some might expect the granddaughter of a prolific and distinguished political commentator to be an American history whiz, Roberts was actually grateful that her young progeny needed clarification.

“I have a place [in the book] where women went to war because they were too poor to stay home,” says Roberts. “They couldn’t work ...

Sometimes the seeds of greatness are difficult to trace, namely because they’re buried in soil that’s now populated by the towering trees of triumph and success. Maya Angelou has cultivated a virtual forest by now, reflecting a prolific career that spans seven decades. She’s written more than 30 bestselling titles and has amassed enough nominations, awards and honorary degrees to venerate a small army. Though her curriculum vitae includes a jaw-dropping Who’s-Who list of colleagues and collaborators, her new book ...

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